"Industry Standard" On Location Audio Tools? What are they?

I know you are frustrated but your question is a bit like "I want the best car, money is no object. We will be driving all over the place". There isn't "a best", there are a bunch of good ones and they are generally better at some things than others.

there is a high school locally, that has two fully equipped studios, one really large, a recital hall, a smallis theatre and a 850 seat theatre. There are multiple control rooms and a main tech room with 156 racks of equipment and hundreds of terabytes of raided storage. The spaces all have full modern lighting systems and are completely gridded and wired up. Everything can be turned on and run from the main control room, the studio cameras can be remotely controlled also. There is a dedicated live VFX suite and a sound suite all designed for live network TV production.

It's state of the art and fantastic... except the folks who were going to run this as a full time broadcast studio decided to build another one someplace else. So none of this is doing anyone any good because nobody knows how to work it.

Getting "the best" sound box doesn't help you with out someone who knows how to use it.

John gave you a nice list but you NEED to be asking the people who will have to use it not us.

Plus while there are a few industry folks here this is primarily a site full of new filmmakers. There are other sites loaded with working profesionals. But I think they would give you an even harder time for trying to work backwards.

And the fact that you don't seem to think much about sound post brings up big red flags about your understanding of the work involved in filmmaking.
 
I think most have already been said, but I would like to emphasize two bits of advice.

1. Most experienced sound technicians have their own gear, that is tailored after their own taste and need, and organized in a way that they are used to work with (this last one is not to be underestimated, such as how they set up their bags, store their lavs etc). Some technicians might be used to a specific brand of recorder or mixer, and find it frustrating to use another without some time to get used to them. If you haven't already done so, make some calculations on the cost of renting vs buying, and consult some of the technicians you might be using.

2. You say you want the best there is, but while some pieces of equipment might be argued to be of higher quality than others, it all comes down to the right tool for the job at hand. For instance, using a Cantar X2, a good eight-channel mixer and 7-8 wireless systems could be considered a great base for a sound cart, but it wouldn't be very compatible with working out of a bag over the shoulder. It would also be too big and overly complicated for smaller ENG-work, where you might instead want something like a boom and two wireless going into a three-channel mixer and a simple hop to camera. What I'm trying to say is that if you want to be able to do all kind of jobs, then you're not looking at one setup, but two or three (although they may still share some of the same equipment). And there are many ways to skin a cat...

Regarding the question of lavs, you will need them if you want to be versatile. I don't know of any sound technicians who prefer the sound of lavs to that of a well-placed boom, but the problem is that the boom can't always be well-placed.
 
John Willett said:
Sound Devices 788T - small and portable but runs hot, not quite as high quality audio as the above, but much better than anything below them.
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...Just for my own education, how would the audio from the SD 788T be lesser quality?

I don't doubt your words, but I'm curious about what separates the "really good" from the "outstanding" with this type of gear.
 
John is a Nagra, Sennheiser, and "whatever is not made in the USA" guy.
Always has said SD inferior to the products he uses.
 
BRH said:
John is a Nagra, Sennheiser, and "whatever is not made in the USA" guy.
Always has said SD inferior to the products he uses.
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For full disclosure, it should also be noted that Mr. Willett is an equipment dealer and his list is approximately his "line card". http://sound-link.co.uk/
And as BRH mentioned, it is a rather European-centric view of the world, not that there aren't plenty of us who have a North American (or Antipodean) world-view.
 
However out of fairness, I know a number of people who like the sound of NAGRA preamps more than the SD preamps. This may be a very clean VS something that sounds a bit more tape like - since many of those folks spent a long time on RtR.

That is probably part of it. I personally like SD preamps, but I find the form factor of the SD recorders a bit of a PITA. Maybe it's just my fat fingers.

"Quality" is probably not the right word though. Personal preference would be closer.
 
"Just for my own education, how would the audio from the SD 788T be lesser quality?"
- I wouldn't say "lesser quality"... "subjective opinion" is more accurate, .. some may prefer other recorders, pre amps and such. .on-board pre-amps and such.. The 788 is amongst the best, many blockbuster mega-buck movies were done with 788s and other SD preamps and recorders. Many (including myself) prefer the 'British' pre-amps and EQs for music recording. The old Neve consoles, preamps and EQs are legendary.
 
TheDingo said:
...Just for my own education, how would the audio from the SD 788T be lesser quality?

I don't doubt your words, but I'm curious about what separates the "really good" from the "outstanding" with this type of gear.
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It's difficult to say exactly as it's the difference between the excellent and the ultimate, in a way.

I am not knocking the SD as it is an excellent product and does exactly what it was designed to do superbly - it's just that companies like Sonosax, Nagra and AETA put that little bit extra into it (and you pay for it), which is why I prefer those over the SD for music recording.



BRH said:
John is a Nagra, Sennheiser, and "whatever is not made in the USA" guy.
Always has said SD inferior to the products he uses.
Click to expand...

This is not true - I am someone who goes for the best quality I can get wherever it is made - and I *do* have US made equipment where it outperforms other stuff.

I find that some people just like SD so much that they will not listen to anything negative and/or magnify what is small into something large. I have never knocked SD at all as it is excellent stuff and their customer service is also excellent - I have only said that Nagra, Sonosax and AETA are that little bit better in the mic. preamps (which is why SD can give you 8 and Nagra and AETA only 4). All have design compromises somewhere in what the equipment was designed to do to reach the design goals. SD wanted to make a small and ultra portable unit, Nagra went larger (maybe too large for some uses) so it runs cool and they could better make use of the space to get the quality they wanted. AETA are in the middle, size wise, and made different compromises.

You decide what *you* require out of a recorder and make your own decision based on what *you* require it to do. I record music and choose the best mics and best quality audio I can - I make my compromises in other areas. I certainly would not want to run around with a boom pole and Nagra VI all day - I would go for the 4MinX or 788T if I had to do that.
 
Richard Crowley said:
For full disclosure, it should also be noted that Mr. Willett is an equipment dealer and his list is approximately his "line card". http://sound-link.co.uk/
And as BRH mentioned, it is a rather European-centric view of the world, not that there aren't plenty of us who have a North American (or Antipodean) world-view.
Click to expand...

"Dealer" is probably the wrong word as I am a "Distributor" and only in the UK, and only for the past year.

I am also a location recording unit and have been doing that since the 1970's.

I mention loads of stuff that I have nothing to do with if I think it's good - I mention Nagra and I don't deal in Nagra - I have mentioned Sennheiser and I am not a distributor for Sennheiser. I mention loads of stuff that I have nothing to do with if I feel it's the right answer for the OP (and I have actually recommended SD on quite a lot of occasions if it's the right answer for the job).

I have always been open and honest in what I say and what I distribute does not affect my answer and only mentioned if it's the right answer or worthy of consideration.

I certainly don't come to "push" any product and was here regularly years before I actually took on distributing anything - I am not a salesman, so I only took on stuff that I liked and would use anyway. Actually, it's probably 90% or more of what I mention I have no commercial dealing with (maybe 95% or more) as most of what I distribute is for broadcasters and recording studios rather than videographers - I am here mainly to help and offer the expertise I have gained professionally in about 40 years of recording.

And, anyway, I am up front about it all and everything is clear in my sig.
 
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